Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) has named Elizabeth Gibson as its new general counsel, elevating the longtime in-house attorney to lead Toyota Legal One (TL1), the automaker’s centralized legal arm supporting operations across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The promotion comes amid a wider shakeup of TMNA’s legal and compliance leadership.

Gibson assumes responsibility for legal direction, strategy, and risk oversight for the company’s North American operations. She will lead TL1’s legal teams in the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico and provide direct counsel to TMNA business division executives. She reports to Sandra Phillips Rogers, TMNA’s chief legal officer and SVP of enterprise strategy and diversity.

Her promotion follows the June 2 appointment of Dawn Pittman Collins as chief compliance officer, succeeding Jacqueline Thomas, who will retire on July 18 after more than 20 years with the company.

Gibson joined Toyota in 2006 and has held several senior roles across litigation, regulatory, safety, and environmental law. She was instrumental in handling legal strategy during some of Toyota’s highest-profile regulatory challenges over the past decade, including responses to consumer class actions and emissions compliance reviews.

Her appointment comes as TMNA intensifies its focus on compliance and risk mitigation. The legal department’s reorganization follows Toyota’s record $180 million settlement in 2021 with the Department of Justice for long-term violations of the Clean Air Act. Federal prosecutors found that for over a decade, Toyota failed to submit legally mandated emissions defect reports, delaying or neglecting filings that were critical to the EPA’s oversight program.

TMNA’s legal revamp also arrives as the company grapples with rising regulatory and technological pressures. In 2024, Toyota sold 2.33 million vehicles in the U.S., topping the market and achieving a 3.7% year-over-year increase. Electrified vehicle sales climbed 53%, passing the 1 million mark for the first time.

Gibson replaces David Christ, who has transitioned to lead Toyota’s Lexus brand. With 64,000 employees and 14 manufacturing sites—11 of them in the U.S.—TMNA continues to anchor Toyota’s global footprint in North America.